


Thunderstorms

by matchamaxi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matchamaxi/pseuds/matchamaxi
Summary: Sora's always been afraid of thunder, and Riku has always been there to protect him. But sometimes, Riku's the one afraid.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Thunderstorms

Sora had been scared of thunder ever since he and Riku were kids. The lightning didn't scare him, but the thunder always had. The sudden crashes, the way it rumbled overhead and shook the structures on the play islands, the way it calls the storms that remind him of being ripped away from home the first time. It hadn't gone away with time. 

Tonight was Sora's last night in Yen Sid's tower before he left to go back to the Caribbean and follow his dreams of being a pirate. A dream that, Riku knew, had been constantly developing in the back of Sora's mind for a long time. Sora did always love the water.

Of course it would be that night that thunder loomed over the tower, a storm brewing that shook the trees outside and made Sora's skin cold and clammy as he felt the fear settling in his chest. Riku knew he was scared, but Sora had distanced himself a lot lately after Riku had saved him. 

Riku felt responsible for it all, the feeling of hopelessness that had made its home inside Sora, the fear of losing people because he couldn't act, even the emptiness Sora had told him about since having their friends removed from his heart and put into their own vessels. But like always, Sora would just smile and say he was fine. Just like he was now, even though Riku could see the trembling in Sora's shoulders every time the thunder outside crashed. 

Riku felt like he had pushed him enough, demanded too much from him, asked too many questions. Maybe that's why Sora had made the decision to leave Yen Sid's tower, maybe that's why Sora had been so closed off from everyone, especially Riku. 

"I'm not mad at you, y'know."

Sora's voice shook Riku out of his thoughts, and Riku realized he had been staring. Probably for a long time by now, too.

"You reading my mind now?" Riku asked, sighing as he leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. He felt the aches and pains in his body now more than ever, especially the dull throbbing in his wrist and side. They beat in sync with his heart, a steady rhythm that left Riku numb to any other feeling. Well, except the cold dread in his heart.

"Not really. But I can feel it, and your eyes looked so... sad." Sora frowned, looking towards the foot of his bed where his bag was packed and ready, the keys to the gummi  
ship clipped onto the handle as his phone glowed on the table nearby, a blinking battery the only light in the room besides Riku's tiny bedside lamp. "I don't like it. It feels cold, and you've never been cold, Riku."

"What do you want them to be?" Riku didn't know why he asked that in particular, didn't know why his eyes felt like they were burning. Sora was leaving, sure. But he'd call, he wasn't leaving HIM, just the tower. And he was going somewhere he'd be happy, so why did Riku's heart ache so badly? Why did he feel like he was losing something?

"I don't know. I just... Riku, do you not want me to leave?" Sora questioned, turning his whole body so he was facing Riku. The short distance between their beds felt too far, like if Sora jumped he wouldn't come close to Riku at all. That feeling hurt something very deep inside of Sora, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. 

"Sora, I want you to be happy. If that means you going and being a pirate, sailing until your hearts content, then that's what I want you to do." Riku felt his chest tighten when he heard Sora moving, his eyes squeezing closed as he heard Sora's feet hit the floor and his footsteps closing the space between their beds.

The bed dipped next to him, and he felt a warm, trembling body press against his side. Instinctively, he curled his arm around Sora and held him, just like he would when they were younger and Sora would sob into his shoulder every time the thunder clapped.

Except this time, there was no sobbing. Only the slightly tense at the booming, a tremble as the sky rumbled like some hungry beast. But no sobbing, no cries, no sound. Riku thought maybe he'd gone deaf, until he heard Sora's voice again, muffled by the fabric of Riku's tanktop.

"You know I'm not leaving forever, Riku. Don't you? It's not like you'll never see me again, or like you can't come visit me." Sora was being reasonable, and for a minute Riku wondered when their roles had changed. When had it become him that was so afraid of watching people leave?

"I know, Sora. But that doesn't change the fact that you're leaving, and I won't be there with you. It feels... strange. Like maybe you don't..." Riku stopped himself, closing his mouth as he felt the sting in his eyes getting worse. He didn't dare open them. He didn't want to see Sora looking up at him, eyes wide and tired from everything he'd gone through.

He didn't want to be the guilt that held Sora back from his dreams.

"That I don't what, Riku?" He could feel Sora's eyes on him, could feel them tracing the bags under his eyes and the creases in the corners of his mouth from his frown. Riku sighed and gave in, he let his eyes open and stared up at the high ceiling overhead. Sora's breath caught, and Riku knew that he must be crying to have startled Sora like that.

"It feels like maybe you don't need me anymore. Look at you, Sora. You aren't even scared of the thunder like you used to be. You've seen so much and done even more, and I'm worried that... maybe you don't need me, even in your dreams." 

Riku felt his wrist aching even worse, his side burning from Sora's warm body pressed to closely to the scar that they both knew was there. His hands were shaking, fingers curled tightly into Sora's shirt as he struggled to contain the sudden wave of emotion that tried to drown him in his own bed with Sora there to witness it.

"You don't get to decide that I don't need you." It was quick, almost too quick. Like Sora had said it a thousand times already. And maybe he had, in his mind. Maybe Sora had said it a million times throughout their adventures, and Riku had just never heard it. 

"Sora-"

"No, Riku. I need you to listen to me." Riku felt Sora's hands grip into his shirt tighter, felt him move and sit up. He caught Sora's eyes as Sora leaned over him, staring down at Riku with so much intensity that Riku felt himself shrink as far down into the bed beneath him as he could. He wanted to run, but Sora's hands on the bed on either side of him put that train of thought to a halt.

"You don't get to decide when I'm done needing you. That's not your choice. I'll always need you, no matter how long we're apart or how old we get. I'll always need you here with me." Riku watched as Sora clasped a hand over his chest, right where his heart was. It was an action Riku had seen too many times to count, an unspoken promise that had Riku's eyes watering all over again.

"I'm sorry." It was all Riku could manage. His voice was small, feeble compared to how he normally sounded. He knew he must've sounded weak by the look that crossed Sora's face, a look that could only be placed as regret. 

Sora opened his mouth to speak, closing it again as he shook his head. Riku didn't know what to say, didn't know how to break the silence. But thankfully Sora spoke first.

"I'm still scared of thunder, by the way. So you got that wrong." Riku felt himself start laughing, curling an arm over his face before the tears could start. He heard Sora giggling with him, a sound Riku had come to love so dearly. When he moved his arm to look up at Sora, he saw it. The tears in Sora's own eyes. 

"Sora." 

"I'm fine. Just… I've missed hearing you laugh. And here I am, about to run off to do my own thing and hear it even less." Sora sounded even more sad than Riku felt, and it hurt. It hurt worse than the phantom ache in his long-healed injuries, than his heart would tomorrow when he saw Sora off. 

Riku didn't know what made him move. Despite the fear in his heart, Riku lifted a hand to Sora's face and wiped the tears from his eyes. Riku gently tugged Sora down so that their faces were inches away from each other until he could feel Sora's breath, shallow and warm, on his face. Sora's face turned pink, a soft dust of rosey warmth across his face and nose. 

Riku held Sora there for a long moment, staring into those eyes that had stunned him into silence time and time again. He felt like he could get lost in them, like he could wander forever and make it nowhere in the depths of Sora's heart. It wasn't until Sora closed the distance that Riku was pulled out of his thoughts.

It didn't last long, a slow brushing of lips and the feeling of Sora lacing his fingers with Riku's in the periphery of his mind. But the floodgates to everything Riku had thought of Sora were open now, and every fleeting wish to know just what Sora thought of him set off like a flock of birds startled from their perch. 

Sora pulled away first, eyes fluttering open slowly to meet Riku's lovestruck gaze. Riku's free hand lifted to his mouth, fingers pressing to his lips as he processed what had just happened. 

It took a few moments, but Sora seemed to realize what he had done and attempted to move, but Riku's hand on his arm and the desperation in his eyes stopped him. Riku knew that look, knew Sora was feeling like he'd messed up big time. 

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Don't leave?" Sora's surprise was almost comical. His eyes got wide, almost cartoonishly so, and Riku couldn't help the smile that forced its way onto his face. 

"What?"

"Stay. At least until we talk about that…" Riku pleaded, shifting to pull Sora back to him. Sora seemed hesitant, but the sudden crash of thunder outside found him bolting to Riku's side with a shriek. "It's okay, I've got you. You're okay."

Sora nodded, clinging to Riku as he felt fingers start working their way through his hair. It soothed him, calmed him down enough to focus on what had just happened. 

"I won't leave tomorrow. Maybe not for a few more days. I think… we have a lot to talk about, don't we?" Sora finally asked, sighing as he felt Riku's arm squeeze him tighter when he jumped at the next thunder clap. 

"We do. But maybe we should wait until the storm passes." Sora nodded his agreement, feeling the fear steadily melt away with Riku holding him.

"As long as you're here, I'm fine with that."

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So it's been a long time since I've actually written anything, and I though maybe some soriku would be a good place to start getting back into the groove of things! I just hope it makes sense ^^; 
> 
> Also if you see any spelling/grammar mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me! This is unbeta'd and was honestly written in my twitter drafts, so there's bound to be something I missed!


End file.
